"Raising up a prophetic generation to speak with the empowered voice of Heaven."

Monday, January 30, 2017

No More Fake Anything

A fake gospel has far more negative consequences than fake news. While fake news can disrupt a culture for a season until the truth is made known, a fake gospel can have eternal consequences if not discovered and exposed in this life.

If you were an alien arriving in the United States at this moment in our history you would see the passion of some in the Church being fueled primarily by political outcomes. You would assume the messiah was a deity named either, Left or Right. The names, Jesus, God, and Spirit would be used only as seasoning to the message of this god, not as the main course. In some ways, we would look and sound to the visiting alien like the people in Galatia 2,000 years ago.

The church in Galatia was beginning to move away from the pure and simple Gospel. Paul nailed this foolish change of direction when he said, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). He would write later in that same letter, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” (3:1)

We are being set up, not by a fake gospel or by the lines we have drawn in the sands of culture. We are being set up by God to see a great move of His Spirit. From both sides of the political spectrum, deep distrust and frustration are building. I see an ugly insensitivity emerging from our shared distrust of each other. I can hear the sounds of frustration fueling our response to honest opinions. When the cover is pulled from this deception, people will feel used. They will have arrived at the end of their patience with all forms of information realizing they were manipulated and shuffled across the chessboard of culture like pawns in a game of politics. The last straw will finally fall on the backs of sincere people from both the left and the right who will say, “Enough is enough!” That will be God’s moment.

In that moment, God will release the pure sound of the Gospel in a way that everyone will hear like it was on the Day of Pentecost when a diverse cultural representation of people ran to the noise created by the fresh wind of God’s Spirit. Upon arrival, they remarked, “We hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done (Acts 2:11). A similar wonderful thing is about to take place to replace the fake.

Get your heart ready for that moment. Bury your weapons of conflict so deep that you will forget where they are buried. Burn the receipts of the wrongs committed against you. Reread the words in red and reset the course of your life. Erase your lines in the sand so those who oppose you will be able to come close enough to see your heart.Get ready. The fake is about to be displaced by the real and when that comes real change will finally take place.

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A New Book - The Sound of Reformation

A reformation is taking place in the Church. In this reformation we will rediscover the simplicity of our mission and calling. In The Sound of Reformation, Garris explores the purpose and product of the five equipping gifts found in Ephesians 4 then links the impact of that training and equipping to a unique place on the 7 Mountains of cultural influence. As you read this book you will rediscover the beauty and transforming power of a simple faith.